The Medicine Garden fell quiet.
In the distance, cultivators fought over spirit herbs. Blade light sliced through stone pillars; a few screams drifted over, then swiftly vanished.
Chen Changqing did not look back.
When Jian Chen said those words, he recalled the remnant image of the Heaven-Stepping Immortal Emperor.
When that Immortal Emperor spoke, he had mentioned only nine inheritors.
He had not said how those inheritors would meet.
Nor had he said that inheritors had to seize each other's tokens.
It was a blank deliberately left behind.
Chen Changqing asked, "Have you met other inheritors?"
Jian Chen replied, "I've met two."
"Dead?"
"One died. One escaped."
Chen Changqing asked, "You killed them?"
Jian Chen replied, "I killed one. The other was difficult to kill."
Chen Changqing said, "If he could escape from your hands, he doesn't seem like useless trash."
Jian Chen looked at him.
"You aren't either."
Chen Changqing did not follow that line of conversation.
He raised a hand and pointed toward the depths of the Medicine Garden.
"You came here for the herbs, or for me?"
Jian Chen replied, "For the token."
"The token is right here now."
"I won't kill you now."
Chen Changqing asked, "Why?"
Jian Chen pressed the ancient sword back into its sheath.
The azure light withdrew.
The crack in the ground stopped three feet away from Chen Changqing.
"There is something deep within the Immortal Palace."
"What?"
"The entrance to the Heaven-Stepping Relic Mansion."
Chen Changqing did not answer immediately.
Jian Chen had spoken too directly.
So directly that it felt like he was casting bait.
Chen Changqing stored the token in the Heaven-Stepping Ring, suppressing it with a layer of spiritual power within the ring, then adding another layer of Taiqing Divine Light.
The Inheritance Token was still trembling, but